Antevenient

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Coming before or preceding something else in time or order
2. Happening at an earlier time or prior to another event
3. Existing or taking place before something else in a sequence or chronology

Etymology: "Antevenient" comes from Latin "antevenire," meaning "to come before," built from "ante" ("before") and "venire" ("to come"). The same "venire" root gives English "advent," "convene," and "intervene," so the word sits in a family of familiar terms about arrival and coming together. The adjective's main use is in theology, where it describes divine grace that comes before, and prepares, a person's own willing or response. Its literal sense of simply preceding something is the older, plainer meaning, and the theological application grew out of it.

Synonyms: preliminary, prior, antecedent, before, preceding

Antonyms: subsequent, later, following, after, post